Nearly eight years on, the story of how Kawhi Leonard walked out on the San Antonio Spurs still lacks a clear explanation. Now, the man who was right there when it all fell apart is finally talking.
Danny Green spent eight seasons alongside Leonard in San Antonio, won a championship with him in 2014, and was eventually traded to the Toronto Raptors alongside him in the 2018 blockbuster deal that ended the Leonard era in South Texas.
Why Did Kawhi Leonard Leave the Spurs?
He has since moved into broadcasting and podcasting, and when the subject of Leonard’s Spurs exit came up on the All the Smoke podcast, Green did not shy away from giving his honest read on what happened.
According to Green, the real story behind Leonard’s departure runs through one man who never played a single minute in the NBA: Uncle Dennis.
Danny Green says Uncle Dennis played a big part in Kawhi wanting to leave the Spurs:
“I think his Uncle had a lot of what to do, what’s going on off the court, a lot of influence. I think once his Uncle saw some distasteful things in his mind. It was like, “Alright we not doing… pic.twitter.com/wgNwJYxNVp
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“I think his Uncle had a lot of what to do, what’s going on off the court, a lot of influence. I think once his Uncle saw some distasteful things in his mind. It was like, ‘Alright we not doing this,’” he said.
“Because San Antonio they don’t treat nobody like superstars and I think his Uncle kind of rightfully so, you know what I’m saying, should have been treated like a superstar,” Green added.
Dennis Robertson, the brother of Leonard’s mother, Kim, stepped into a fatherly role after Kawhi’s father, Mark, was tragically killed in 2008. He became Leonard’s closest advisor and the driving force behind most of his major career decisions.
Robertson is not a licensed agent, but his influence over Leonard’s career has been enormous, and his relationship with the Spurs front office was an open secret around the league well before the situation boiled over in 2018.
Green’s comments add important texture to a saga that already had several moving parts. Leonard appeared in just nine games during the 2017-18 season due to a quad injury he first suffered in the 2017 Western Conference Finals after stepping on Zaza Pachulia’s foot.
The Spurs medically cleared him to return, but Leonard’s camp sought a second opinion and was told to continue his rehab. That disconnect over his health care was the starting point for everything that followed.
Robertson and Leonard’s agent, Mitch Frankel, pushed back on the team’s medical assessment, and the relationship between the player and the organization began to crack. Then Tony Parker publicly questioned the severity of Leonard’s injury on national television, drawing a sharp response from Leonard’s camp.
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Gregg Popovich later made his own public comments about the situation. Uncle Dennis, Green made clear, saw it all and had heard enough. Robertson himself later confirmed this to Yahoo Sports, citing a “lack of trust” with the Spurs as the core reason for the split.
The Spurs traded Leonard to the Raptors along with Green that summer, receiving DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected first-round pick in return.
Leonard went on to win the 2019 Finals MVP, delivered Toronto its first and only championship, and cemented himself as one of the best players on the planet. San Antonio is now in the 2026 NBA Finals, fighting the New York Knicks for a chip.